Call of Duty Endowment has placed 50,000 veterans in employment ahead of schedule

The Call of Duty™ Endowment, Activision Blizzard’s non-profit charity organization that helps put veterans back to work, has announced that they have reached their goal of placing 50,000 veterans in meaningful employment ahead of schedule.

The Call of Duty™ Endowment (“the Endowment”) today announced that it has reached its goal of funding the placement of 50,000 veterans into high-quality jobs ahead of schedule. Now, the Endowment is doubling down with a new goal of securing placements for a total of 100,000 veterans by 2024. Thanks to the work being done by the Endowment, veterans in the United States and United Kingdom have found premier opportunities with hundreds of companies including Amazon, Apple, Bank of America, Deloitte, Delta, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Nike, and SpaceX.

“The Call of Duty Endowment has exceeded expectations and continues to benefit the lives of veterans and their families, significantly giving back to those who sacrificed for others,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard and co-founder of the Endowment. “With U.S. and U.K. veteran unemployment and underemployment challenges persisting, I am thrilled to advance our efforts with a new, ambitious goal of securing employment for 100,000 veterans by 2024.”

The endowment, was started in 2009, started with a goal of placing 25,000 veterans into employment by 2018; that initial goal was hit within 2 years. The next goal was reaching 50,000 by 2019, and the endowment reached that a year early. Their new goal is to secure employment for 100,000 veterans by 2024.

“The Call of Duty Endowment is making a remarkable impact in the lives of our veterans,” said General James L. Jones (USMC, Ret.), Co-Chairman of the Endowment. “High-quality, meaningful employment is imperative to their successful transition back to civilian life and the Endowment’s focus on these efforts is unmatched.”

To help place veterans in high-quality jobs, the Endowment works with carefully vetted, high-performing veteran employment organizations through its prestigious Seal of Distinction program in partnership with Deloitte. The Seal of Distinction program bestows awards annually to the highest performing non-profits that meet the Endowment’s benchmarks in effectiveness, efficiency, and integrity in placing veterans in high-quality jobs. In 2017, the Endowment expanded its reach overseas, identifying and forging partnerships with a select group of U.K.-based veteran’s charities.

“Placing fifty thousand veterans in meaningful jobs is significant—that’s the equivalent of more than half the U.S. Army’s annual recruit class. By finding and funding world-class organizations and with the unwavering support of Activision Blizzard, we were able to reach our goal ahead of schedule,” said Dan Goldenberg, executive director of the Endowment. “Our approach is to marry common sense business practices with philanthropy, which enables us to place vets in jobs at about 1/6 the cost per placement of U.S. Department of Labor efforts. We are proud of, and share this achievement with, all of our grantees who have worked tirelessly towards our shared goal.”